Institutionalization of social assistance and means testing mechanisms in the post-2001 period

Abstract

This study scrutinizes the institutionalization of public social assistance and means testing mechanisms in the period after 2001. Along with the historical process of institutionalization, the thesis focuses on the attitudes towards means testing and social assistance of various actors, with examples from the case of Çorlu Social Assistance and Solidarity Foundation. The process of institutionalization of social assistance and standardization of means testing started mostly with the initiation of the World Bank, along with the Social Risk Mitigation Project which was formed in 2001. There were important improvements in terms of the institutionalization in social assistance such as improving the institutional capacity, use of information capacities, and creating integrated database that connect the system of the SYGM both with the SYDVs and other public institutions. However, there were also persistent problems such as the fragmented social assistance programs, or being exposed to personal and political influence, despite these improvements. Furthermore, the issue is more complicated for the means test due to peculiar problems of Turkey similar to other late industrialized countries. Among these problems was lack of institutional capacity for making means test in the absence of reliable public records such as property ownership, social security and population records, as well as lack of databases on the applicants, and of the standardized and instructive criteria. Most of these problems were solved with the use of information technologies and increasing institutional capacity of other public institutions. However, the major problem of the means test, which is high informality, continues to be the main obstacle for estimating the incomes of the applicants. It constitutes the main reason of the means testing system with social investigations to be in an inhumane way. The strictness of the means test and the ways of it, as well as the target groups of the assistance programs are all questions that are closely related to the varieties of approaches to social assistance which can be seen in the difference in attitudes of different actors in the social assistance such as the government, opposition, the civil servants in the SYGM, as well as the personnel in the SYDV.